CONTROVERSIAL plans for a travellers' site at the village of Baughton, near Upton, were rejected by councillors this week.

The application, for a site bordering the M5 motorway, attracted 50 letters of objection from local residents, plus the opposition of Earls Croome and Hill Croome parish councils.

Applicant Mr G Smith wanted to use the site to create 12 traveller family pitches, each large enough to accommodate two caravans, two cars and an amenity block, plus a stable block serving the site. This was reduced from 16 pitches in the original version of the application.

Among the residents' objections were that the site would be an eyesore and an overdevelopment, would mean the loss of agricultural land, and cause local services to be overstretched.

Malvern Hills District Council planning officers said the application should be refused, as it was an unsustainable location, partially within a flood zone and too close to the motorway.

And at Wednesday's meeting of the southern area development management committee, members voted nine to seven, with one abstention, in favour of the refusal.